It’s a little bit funny to be thinking about the days when I was too young and naive about what blogging really was all about, but hey! I still am! I don’t have a famous name, and hasn’t built my own identity yet on the world wide web either, but, in case you’re intrigued to know, I’ve been in this craft for almost 8 years now and man, it makes me feel old (turning 23 this June, by the way). Really, 8 years passed by so fast, I didn’t even feel it’s that long already. That’s the thing when you’re in love with what you do, and in this case, blogging, or sharing stories with nice photographs and cute designs. And yep, time flies when you’re having fun!
Let’s have a mini throwback on a Tuesday night (I’m typing this at 10:00 PM) coz I can’t seem to stand waiting until Thursday to have a legit #ThrowbackThursday blog post for ya’ll. Starting a blog wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Owning a blog came so sudden for me that I became an instantly confused baboon at 15, starting with all the terminology, know-how and all the…what? That’s the first phase every blogger has to deal with, I guess. Unless you already have a bit of a background in advance before starting, then you’re lucky. With all that being said, here are the things I never knew prior to starting my very own home in the web. But please, don’t judge! I was that clueless! haha!
1. What do you mean I have to pay for a domain and hosting?! Oh crap!
I didn’t even have a bank account back then, what more a PayPal account? Good thing, subdomains exist and if you happen to know the domain’s owner, you can possibly get it for free. In my case, I got my first ever subdomain under Anne‘s pinkfab.info. Horaaaay for me! But it did not last that long because I got to buy my own .com after about 3 months. And hosting was another story. I really did not care much about hosting when I got my subdomain because you know, domain’s owner pays for it. But when I already had a .com, this hosting thing became part of my life! And because friends exist, I got my first hosting plan for free, though I only had super limited space and stuff that time, but I was good. (happy-kid!) I eventually transferred from one host to another, and the list goes on.
2. WordPress is giving me a headache! What to do?!
Yes, I started with a WordPress blog, unlike others who started with Xanga, Blogspot, Tumblr, multiply blog, etc. WordPress doesn’t have pre-installed themes back then. Which means, I had to install a theme using FTP. And as a clueless girl, I was, I did not even know what FTP was! WordPress was really a headache, I can tell a long list of reasons why but it’s still my favorite blogging platform by far! And thank you WordPress for pushing me to learn HTML, CSS and PHP, love yah!
3. Online friends exist and they are amazeballs!
They really are! I can talk to them everyday like real life friends because they are just as amazing! It’s even funny how I can let my guard down to them and tell random stories about my life. I love how open they can be to their stories as well. And what’s more amazing, these people are living in different parts of the country, some of them are living outside of the country that makes it possible for me to have friends in all parts of the world through blogging! I have to mention that they are better connections because most of these people are professionals too, in different fields. They can always help you out.
4. Been writing this blog post since forever!
Nobody ever told me that writing a blog post is so time consuming! I’m not a good writer and I experience blogger’s block too. Sometimes, it is just too hard to finish a well-written blog post that you think your readers would be interested to read. Plus, a good blog post needs to have a good aesthetic using relevant images and such. It requires hours and hours of effort. It’s a lot easier to think of topics, things to write about. But to compose the entire thing in a single post is a different story, at least, for me. I guess, writing is a continuous learning that I benefit from blogging.
5. and then here comes the bullies…
By entering the world of internet, it made me more vulnerable to haters and cyberbullies. My opinions may be different from the others and I may receive hate to the littlest thing, and that’s so normal! Been there, done that! (well, sort of) And of course, the grammar police are in everywhere. I totally appreciate people who are concerned enough to correct my grammatical errors here, because it’s pretty obvious that English isn’t my first language. But to insult is a different story, I just hope I won’t encounter any in the future. There was also a time when somebody used my innocence to her personal gain, (SCAMMER!) it was a long story, though. hmmm. Yes, this kind of people exists too, be ready!
6. Somebody emailed me for a sponsored post!! Oh wait, is this the new kind of scam these days?!
I swear! I did not even know I can actually earn through blogging. This was something that I just enjoyed doing as a hobby, and when I learned about the monetizing thing, then it became even more interesting for me! I started receiving inquiries from clients and several more from paid to blog websites. I just loved the thought of earning while enjoying!
7. What the heck are SEO, PR, DA and Alexa?!
Too much blogging jargon! But hey, these things are essential for a blog to succeed, well if you are into monetizing, at least. But for a hobbyist like me, I don’t really care too much. But yes, these things exist and if you are planning to be a full-blown blogger, then make necessary research, especially on the SEO thingy. It would be a big of a help on your quest to stardom! (Did I just say stardom? Haha! Don’t mind!)
8. Holy Guacamole! I’m getting hooked! *banana-dance*
Lastly, I never knew I could be as hooked as I am today! It has been 8 long years and yet it feels as if it was only just yesterday. Of course, there are down times too but more often than not, it’s still thrilling, it still excites me, and I still look forward to my days off from work just so I can read or write something about the whole day without interruption. It’s my introvert self’s guilty pleasure, I guess. Or maybe, it is true that no matter how old we get, some things will always stay the same and some things we will always love. That for me, is this. #drama
PS: Photo above is not mine. Thanks Unsplash.
